A police inspector who was injured after a Defence Force officer ran into him with a vehicle in 2015 is to be awarded compensation.
The Office of the Attorney General was initially challenging Inspector Kern Ferreira’s negligence claim but accepted liability when the matter came up for case management during a virtual hearing before Justice Frank Seepersad yesterday morning.
Seepersad did not calculate the compensation owed to Ferreira but instead referred the assessment to a High Court Master.
According to evidence presented in the case, the incident occurred on March 16, 2015, while Ferreira was standing in the National Operations Centre (NOC) compound located at the Knowsley Building.
Ferreira had completed his shift and was waiting on a lift to take him to the St James Police Station when a vehicle driven by Defence Force member Terry Mercury collided with him.
Ferreira admitted that he was not hospitalised for a lengthy period, he claimed he was still suffering from injuries, including soft tissue damage to his knee and hip and blunt trauma to his back.
“The claimant contends further that he suffers from insomnia, gets tired easily, and is unable to work for lengthy periods. He continues to experience back and knee pain even though he undertook physiotherapy sessions in an attempt to alleviate the pain,” Ferreira’s lawyers said in his amended statement of case.
They also contended that he had to seek treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.
In his original claim, Ferreira said when he returned to active duty he was only given light dues and was prevented from working occasional overtime, which amounted to between $2,000 and $3,000 per month before the incident.
Ferreira is being represented by Shaneis Murray, while Radha Sookdeo and Nicol Yee Fung are representing the AG’s Office.